The U.S. attorney’s office was bigger than Billy Vail’s had been, but even so, it could hardly hold everybody. Longarm felt like a sardine in a can, an overly warm can at that, wedged in as he was between Henry and Smiley so that his arms were about pinned to his sides. If he’d farted, the guy behind him would have felt the breeze. In addition to every deputy working out of the Denver office, there was a contingent of U.S. deputy marshals who had been rushed in on loan from Kansas City and four more from San Francisco. There were representatives from the law-enforcing bodies of the state of Colorado, the cities of Denver, Aurora, Golden, and Central City, and Denver and Arapaho Counties. Hell, Longarm didn’t know where-all else these people came from. There was even a pair of Secret Service agents—cold-eyed men who looked like they suspected everyone there but themselves—who’d been dispatched off the president’s own protection detail and sent to keep an eye on the investigation.
The one thing all of these people seemed to have in common, Longarm thought, was that every swinging dick among them wanted to catch the bastards who’d killed Billy Vail and Avery Terrell and George and Troutman. From every jurisdiction around, and with whatever motivations there were that drove them, these boys all looked just about as offended and anxious to get on with it as Longarm was himself.
“All right, settle down now. Everybody listen up,” a voice called from the front of the room, from what had been U.S. Attorney Terrell’s desk. The room, which a moment earlier had been softly buzzing with the combined noise of several dozen simultaneous conversations, became instantly silent.
“Thank you,” the voice went on.
Longarm tried to get a look at whoever was doing the talking, but all he could see at the moment was the top of the man’s head. Which did not exactly give him much to go on.
“For those of you who do not know me,” the speaker announced, “my name is Cotton. J. B. Cotton. I am—I should say that I was—assistant U.S. attorney under Avery Terrell. The Attorney General of the United States has appointed me interim U.S. attorney for this district until such time as permanent replacements can be decided upon to fill this vacancy and that of the U.S. marshal for the district.” He paused and coughed. “It is my understanding that no decision has been made yet about whether another special envoy will be named to fill the shoes of Commissioner Troutman. All of those decisions, naturally, will be at the will of the president and Congress. In the meantime, gentlemen, it is our task—one might even say it will be our privilege—to conduct a swift and sure investigation into the shocking and unwarranted assault on our brothers in service of our government. It is up to us, each one of us assembled here today, to see that the murderers do not go unpunished, to insure that the lives of these brave and worthy men were not given up in vain.
“I am, on the authority of the President of these United States, assuming command of the investigation. I will assign tasks to each of you, and I will expect you, individually and collectively, to carry out this work with all the diligence and expertise that is available to you. I expect you to give this your total attention. A few of you, quite naturally, will be required to perform the ordinary duties of your respective jurisdictions and agencies. When you are given such tasks, I expect your full cooperation. This investigation is too important to allow the intrusion of personalities or politics into any of the decisions. Those of you who must perform other duties should do so with the understanding that your cooperation and your devotion to matters that may at the time seem insignificant are necessary so that others can labor on a full-time basis toward the discovery and apprehension of whoever it was who planned the recent attack on the commissioner and his wife.
“I want you to know that I personally will not rest until these people, every one of them who may have been involved, have been caught, convicted, and sentenced to the fullest extent of the law. I trust that everyone else in this room feels the same. If you do not, please have the courtesy to speak up now. I want no shirkers on this team, gentlemen. I expect every man among you to commit himself to his best efforts, without regard to personalities or favoritism. Is there anyone here who is not willing to make this commitment? Anyone at all? Speak now, please, if you want out.”
Longarm would have been damned well amazed if anyone had asked out. And, of course, no one did—as the interim U.S. attorney undoubtedly had expected. These men wouldn’t have come if they and their bosses hadn’t been personally and completely pissed off by the cowardly bomb attack. Those of them that still had bosses, that is.
Which, dammit, left out Longarm and Henry and all the other deputies who’d worked under Billy Vail’s leadership. It looked like for the time being they didn’t have a boss and weren’t fixing to get a new one.
Still, that was all right. The new broom, whoever he turned out to be, might well want to sweep the office clean of old associations and old loyalties. The next U.S. marshal could turn out to be a politician who would want his own people on the payroll. And Custis Long couldn’t have borne the thought right now of not being a part of the investigation into Billy’s death. He could live with the idea of being fired so some political ass-kisser could replace him. Hell, he’d been fired from jobs before. But he couldn’t—wouldn’t—accept it until or unless the person or persons responsible for that bombing were behind bars or, better yet, dead and cooling in the hard, heartless ground.
“Give me your best efforts,” Cotton was saying, “and we will all work together to find these people and bring them to justice. Give me your best efforts, and together we will accomplish that worthy task. Give me your best efforts, each and every one, I beg you.” Cotton paused again. “Now, if you will please be patient with me, I have made up a list of assignments for those I knew would be here. I will read the names off and tell you which room to report to to be briefed on what will be expected of you. Anyone left when I have completed the list—that is to say, those from neighboring jurisdictions who I may not have anticipated seeing today—will please wait in this room until the others have left. Then I will ask you to register your name, affiliation, and areas of expertise with my clerk Ralph Hodges. Is that clear? Fine. First, then, the late marshal’s deputies. You can all report to the marshal’s office. Someone from my staff will join you there in very short order with your specific assignments. All right? Next, you gentlemen representing the Denver police department and Denver County sheriff’s office. I would like you to assemble-“
Longarm had already turned away and was pushing his way through the crowd. Henry was close on his heels as Longarm forced a path for both of them, Smiley and Dutch behind Henry, and the other familiar faces converging now on the door leading out of the U.S. attorney’s office.
Jesus, Longarm thought, with this many men to work on the case it should be a snap. They’d just surround Colorado, put every man jack in the state into one big herd, and then start tossing out whoever wasn’t guilty. Then they could hang whoever was left in the middle.
Helluva idea, he told himself as he slipped out into the cooler and much fresher air in the hallway of the Federal Building. He was already reaching for a cheroot and match. He figured he needed a smoke to help clear his head after all the pushing and shoving inside that packed room.
But overall, he thought, things were looking pretty good for the lawmen and perilous for the sons of bitches. With this many people on the job and some good solid backing from the powers that be, they should be able to shake the bastards out of the weeds however carefully they might have gone to ground.
Yeah, Longarm decided as he scratched the match head and applied the resulting flame to the tip of his cigar, things were looking pretty good, everything considered.
